SGA: The Return 2 Abydos
by ripplestone
Summary: 2000 years after Stargate Atlantis returned to Earth, the Pegasus Galaxy is no longer in the grip of the Wraith and, with the Wraith hunger cured, now the Genii, in league with rogue Wraith Queen Elliana are the new threat. After the destruction of Earth, the last remaining humans arrive in Pegasus on board the ghost ship Destiny & Stargate Atlantis in search of a new beginning...


**SGA:The Return 2 Abydos**

Two thousand years after Stargate Atlantis returned to Earth, the Pegasus Galaxy is no longer in the grip of the Wraith and, with the Wraith hunger cured, now it is the Genii, in league with the rogue Wraith Queen Elliana who are the biggest threat. After the destruction of Earth, the last remaining humans arrive at the Pegasus Galaxy on board the ghost ship Destiny and Stargate Atlantis in search of a new beginning...

**Character List**

Lt John Sheppard

Col. Samantha Carter

Col. David Telford

Dr. Rodney McKay

Dr. Freya Peasegood (medical doctor)

Teyla Emmagan

Torren Emmagan (Teyla's son)

Ronon Dex

(ghost in the machine) Dr. Nicholas Rush

(holograph) Todd the Wraith

Torr (modern Wraith)

Lilion (Traveler companion to Torr)

Queen Elliana (modern Wraith Hive Queen)

Tullar (modern Wraith)

Commander in Chief Cowden of the Genii

Chief Scientist Scera of the Genii

Councillor Londic of the Genii

Training Commander Occut of the Genii

**One**

**'Out of the frying pan...'**

**On Atlantis**

Lt. Colonel John Sheppard leans over the rail on the pier, as though watching the ocean for something.

'Looking for whales?' Asks Dr. Rodney McKay, joining him in the fresh air.

'I actually think that's one of my old golf balls floating down there.'

'_Really?' _Rodney leans over the rail as well. 'Where... I can't see anything..' Rodney straightens up to find John, arms folded, trying not to laugh.

'That's_ so _not funny!'

'No, but really.. after two thousand years... golf balls?'

'What's happening?' The pair are joined by Ronon Dex.

'Just discussing a round of golf.' John chuckles at Rodney's discomfort.

'Well, it'll have to wait. Colonel Carter's calling a strategy meeting following on from our report about the activity in the Outlaw Zone.'

John and Rodney follow Ronon back inside Atlantis, leaving the seas of New Lantea to lap gently at the base of the floating city.

Col. David Telford arrives through the gate just as John, Ronon and Rodney join Col. Samantha Carter, Torren Emmagan and Dr. Freya Peasegood in the control room.

'Welcome to the Pegasus Galaxy. Just in time, I was about to call a meeting to discuss the intel that John and Ronon brought with them.' Col. Samantha Carter greets David as he arrives.

'Good, we need a strategy for integration, it is only a matter of time before the Destiny is found. We are reading massive activity from the other side of the moon we arrived near. Where's that Wraith?' David follows Samantha and the rest into the meeting room where, on a screen, footage of the planet that the Destiny has made its base is playing. It shows a small planet with a fiery orange moon. The planet itself is shrouded with a veil of impenetrable silvery gas rings, hiding the surface from view. 'He's engrossed in his research, he's found some Ancient Chronicles he thinks is important and, although I do believe he's trustworthy, in the few weeks we've been here he's been very helpful, I think we don't need to involve him in too many tactical decisions just yet.'

'I agree, especially in light of what we've been monitoring in the two days since we arrived in the Outlaw Zone.' David points to the strange moon, 'It's here, in it's shadow. A lot of activity, we've monitored Wraith darts as well as other ships travelling to and from it. So far, we are being shielded by the gas rings.'

'And you say that the Traveler, Lilion seems genuinely surprised by the activity?'

'Yes, she's quite agitated, talking of a Genii uprising although we have seen no Genii craft. Teyla elected to stay with her, make sure she does nothing rash. As far as we can tell, the Outlaw Zone is sparsely inhabited around the edges by a few trading space ports, mainly frequented by smugglers and mercenaries. But the interior of the zone is meant to be uninhabited, abandoned centuries ago.' As David pauses, Rodney jumps in with his analysis of the gas rings.

'I've analysed the data you sent through on the gas rings, their composition is quite unique, mainly sulphur dioxide probably spewed out from super-volcanoes on the planet below. Now, on it's own the gas would be fine but when in contact with water it turns into sulphuric acid, I'm predicting the equivalent of acid rainfall condensing out on the surface of Destiny which is quite corrosive in fact, you'll have to find a new spot to hide out in and soon before..'

'Does the Destiny have any transports on it?' Asks Samantha, cutting across Rodney as a plan forms in her mind.

'Not that we've located so far.' John asks 'Why?'

'Perhaps you can pass off as mercenaries, looking for work. Take a puddle jumper back with you and work up cover stories and then approach one of the space ports... and, looking at Rodney's findings, you'll have to find a new base for Destiny.'

'Good plan, if we can gain local trust, perhaps we can find out what's happening out there. I think we should keep Destiny's existence a secret for now. We'll search for a new planet to make our base, far enough out in the Zone not to interfere with any other gates. So what about Atlantis, what's the plan?'

Samantha smiles and sighs. 'Not entirely sure. Pegasus Galaxy has changed a lot during the time we were in stasis. Technologically as advanced now as we are minus the Ancients technology and the Wraith have been cured of their hunger, it's generally a peaceful place. I don't want to start a diplomatic war by wading in accusing either Wraith or Genii of something that might only exist in Lilion's imagination. I'm initiating a series of diplomatic meetings with the nearest inhabited planets and we'll take it from there. I'm hoping we'll be accepted as refugees from...' But Samantha tails off, unable to complete at the thought of the total destruction of Earth. 'This is now our home, we need to meet the neighbours.'

**Inside the Secret Laboratories, Genii Training Base, Athos, Pegasus Galaxy**

Chief Scientist Scera starts to sequence the Wraith DNA sample from Queen Elliana. Her work with the Athosian fighters is much more advanced than even her father knows. The Athosian fighters she created for Occut could be much more than just obedient killers. She has successfully mutated a vampiric rodent gene with a virus, infecting them with a hunger equivalent to the ancient Wraith and now with the Wraith DNA, she should be able to sequence a virus that will infect not only Athosians, but Wraith as well. She glances at the time, it is getting late and her father, Commander-in-Chief Cowden will be wondering where she is. She carefully locks up her laboratory and smiles to herself. Her father wanted to rebuild the Genii Confederation by working with this Queen Elliana but Scera has other plans. With her virus, she could overthrow her father, seize the Genii Confederation and hold the entire Pegasus Galaxy to ransom. Now it would all be just a matter of time.

**On board the Wraith Hive Ship, Outlaw Zone**

Queen Elliana paces up and down her bed chamber. The ship build is taking much longer than she anticipated and the work of the Genii scientist is much slower than she hoped. She needed an army of loyal Wraith and Athosian fighters to build her new Wraith Empire with and to finish the building of the hive ship. The slaves she has working for her are almost useless and die easily of hunger and exposure. She needed more, more slaves to finish the ship and to start to build an army loyal to her. A plan starts to form in her mind, maybe Councillor Londic could make himself useful rather than lounging around at her expense all day. She would get him to run a recruitment drive at the outposts, enlisting the help of the mercenaries and criminals that frequent the bars, in order to build a team to go and capture Wraith and Athosians as her slaves. It would keep him busy and out of the way and stop him spying on her progress for Genii leader CC Cowden. She would offer him a position of power he cannot resist. Perhaps talking the place of that useless Tullar at her side or as the new CC of the Genii under her rule. She stops pacing and inspects her reflection in a mirror. She smooths out her hair and adjusts her outfit, confident that Londic will not be able to resist her offer or her charms.

**On board Destiny**

Lilion watches from the doorway as Teyla Emmagan runs through her training exercises in the gym. Teyla notices she is being watched and pauses. 'You don't mind me watching do you?' Lilion steps into the room. 'No, I could do with the company.'

'You fight well, better than any Athosian I have seen. Could you train me to fight?'

'I will train you in self defence. It is better not to pick fights but to be able to defend yourself when necessary.'

'Good. When can we start?' Lilion is happy for the diversion, the thought of being stuck on the Destiny while the rest of the team are on Atlantis is difficult, especially as Torr is too busy with his research to even talk to her over the communications and Todd has retreated back into the programming, wrestling with some problem.

'Now, unless you have something else to do?' Teyla throws Lilion a sparring stick and shows Lilion some basic moves and then shows her how to fall without hurting herself. Lilion is a quick learner and soon the two are busily trying to outwit each other and neither notice as the engines automatically fire up and Destiny jumps into FTL and far away from the Outlaw Zone and the highly corrosive acid rain eating into its bodywork.

**In the Library on Atlantis**

Deep in the bowels of the city is the library vault, a series of interconnecting chambers housing a vast collection of works from all over the universe. Torr is working in the first chamber and the dim lights throw soft shadows over the shelves of manuscripts and books that line the walls. It seems inconceivable to Torr that no one had bothered to investigate the library to any great extent other than to record its existence. These humans are strange creatures indeed. Who could ignore such a treasure trove of knowledge and discovery? In the couple of weeks since their arrival back in the Pegasus Galaxy, Torr has been systematically working his way through the library, cataloguing and translating as much as he can, digitising the rest. But even after two weeks worth of work, he has only scratched the surface of the contents of the first chamber. The first volumes that caught his attention when he found the library is a vast fifty book series called the Chronicles of the Ancients, a rather lurid and overblown account of the exploits of the Atlanteans that inhabited the city. Among them, as far as he can piece together was a Librarian called Ptolemy, whose mission was to collect all knowledge in the universe and store it in libraries at various locations across several galaxies in order to preserve it for all time. But according to the Chronicles, there were forces that wished to destroy all knowledge and only the library on Atlantis had survived the many enemies of the Ancients. For a moment Torr recognises the rumble of the vortex of the Stargate opening up in the gateroom above. It would be the team from Destiny. For a moment he wonders if Lilion is okay, stuck out on the edge of the galaxy in the Outlaw Zone but all too soon the rich history in the books draws him in and he is lost in the pages of facts, figures and fabulous hieroglyphs.


End file.
